Twila in harmony with Korean Children's Choir

With 32 No. 1 hits, 10 Dove Awards and millions of albums sold, Twila Paris has been winning over audiences for years.

When the Christian singer heard the World Vision Korean Children's Choir during last year's tour, she is the one who was impressed.

"I didn't know what to expect, but I was so amazed," Paris said in a phone interview last week with the Rockford Register Star.

Forty members of the choir will join Paris when she performs here for the SummerWood series. In Rockford, Paris, a spokeswoman for World Vision for 12 years, also will perform her own songs with her band.

The choir's performance includes classical music, hymns, spirituals, American folk songs and show tunes, with traditional Korean instruments and costumes.

"It's just fascinating," said Paris, a native of Fort Worth, Texas. "They are really talented and disciplined. And it is so visually interesting that it's fun for kids, too."

The choir is sponsored by the international missionary organization, World Vision. Only, now instead of being wartime orphans, as they were in the 1950s, choir members advance through competitive auditions.

Paris has recorded 20 albums and been named Female Vocalist of the Year multiple times by the Dove Awards, Christian music's Grammy. But she is just as well-known for her songwriting, including the 1995 Dove Song of the Year "God Is In Control." Several of her works are included in church hymnals. Her concerts resemble praise and worship services, with plenty of testimony and prayer.

A preacher's kid and music industry veteran before she ever recorded at 19, she led a worship band, a group designed to help people get in a mindset for worship. So she isn't surprised that the genre of praise and worship is prominent in Christian music and in churches.

"You have to acknowledge that (praise and worship) is a God-driven thing, although we jump in and take it here and there," she said. "I do believe that (the trend) did seem to just swell up from everywhere. I just think that it's God-initiated. It's all through the Bible."

But praise and worship needs to be genuine, Paris said, not just an entertainment trend.

"We have to be careful that we do worship in spirit and truth, not just in a musical and emotional level," she said. "When we worship, we are inviting the presence of God. The music is the way we get to do it in a very focused way."

She has the same message for worshippers that she gives her 6-year-old son during home-schooling: "I tell him, do your very best in everything you do, because you're doing it for God," she said.

Rockford (Ill.) Register Star

Staff writer Edith C. Webster may be reached at 815-987-1394 or ewebster@rrstar.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Twila Paris with World Vision Korean Children's Choir

When: 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5

Where: SummerWood, 2223 Mulford Road, Rockford.

Tickets: $12 general admission, $17 and $25 reserved seats.

More information: Call 815-877-7046 or 800-965-9324, or go to ChristianHappenings.com.

More SummerWood: The SummerWood series continues with Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12, $10 in advance or $12 at the door; and MercyMe with Caedmon's Call and Burlap to Cashmere, 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18, $19 to $45.